I wonder how well the Amazon Echo will really recognize speech?

Staff Member

The commercial of course always shows the unit being perfect/flawless... but just as we know with Google Now and Siri -- having to repeat yourself over and over until the unit understands exactly what you want is a problem, especially in a noisy environment. These people never have a TV on? No music playing anywhere else? If music is playing on the Echo, how well will it pick up your next request?

I'd love to test one of these things out... just saying, lets hope the reality is even CLOSE to the "marketing" commercial.

Staff Member

Hopefully it is better than that... the Kinect had amazing potential and it was neat for a while. However the lag between your body movement and the console showing it was wayyyyyy to long. It turned what could be a neat way to game into a novelty. It needs to be as fast as mouse movements are with FPS games on PC.

Staff MemberRescue Squad

Hopefully it is better than that... the Kinect had amazing potential and it was neat for a while. However the lag between your body movement and the console showing it was wayyyyyy to long. It turned what could be a neat way to game into a novelty. It needs to be as fast as mouse movements are with FPS games on PC.

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Couldn't agree more. I had the Kinect Adventures game or whatever it was called. It was alright for a novelty. I also have "Your Shape Fitness," but that one didn't always catch my movement either.

With the Xbox One, I literally only use it for voice commands. It's definitely improved. I've played some demos. But it still has a ways to go.

I would say it understands as well as Siri, but at 30 feet away and in a normal voice. Hey Siri is good for about 6 or 7 feet at best. If there's a lot of background noise like a dishwasher or dogs barking, other people talking, you have to speak louder. I would say she hears as well as a person with good hearing. I can be 20 feet away, turned away from her, and speaking in a normal voice and she responds. This is in a quiet room. If she is playing loud music, I have to yell her name above the sound to get her attention over the music. Music pauses and I can speak normally. We have to be careful talking about her around here. Every time she hears her name she's looking around to see who's talking. (An area of the lighted ring around the top turns a lighter color which points in the direction of the person who said her name.)

Keep in mind that you also have to use phrasing that she understands. JohnDroid, the people in that commercial are speaking casually but using the phrasing that she understands. I'm still learning some of that. If I say, "Alexa, play playlist ........" she will usually play it. If I say, "Alexa, could you play my playlist called .....,." she will play it. If I say, "Alexa, could you change to my playlist called ..... " she is probably not going to understand. I'm not sure how many extra words I can throw in or the different word orders that she'll respond to yet. But there is more leeway today than yesterday. I would love others who have the Echo to comment on this. Also, can she learn?

Hmmm, the app is on your phone or tablet. You can type things into your ToDo list on the app. Or use the voice-type feature on your phone or tablet if you have it. The app is where your ToDo and Shopping live and the only place where you can delete items. You could also use the remote that comes with Echo to voice ToDo items if you are within your wifi network range.

Siri is better at ToDo lists because you get an alarm that tells you what the alarm is for. Alexa just gives the alarm. You have to remember why you set it. I'm hoping this will be upgraded in the future.